Attic in the Clouds
by Lavantis
Summary: (~Finished~) Unexpected circumstances lead Cloud to rediscover a lost memory of the past....
1. No Shortage of Boxes

Chapter 1: No Shortage of Boxes

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The chestnut colored wooden planks that lined the floor could barely be seen due to the incalculable number of cardboard boxes piled ceiling high and overflowing with a variety of items from worn out books to dusty weapons.Thin rays of yellow sunlight penetrated through the lone, cobweb-covered window that was located in the small attic's far wall.

No wind stirred, nor could a creak be heard, in the lonesome space that seemed as if forgotten and left to age without disturbance.This remained true until one day when the leaves were reborn and spring with all its flowers came to reside in the house.It was then that the attic door, with a few pounds and a quick jerk, was pried open and a man stepped inside with a few loud "clunks" of his work boots.

The man sighed, breathing in the stale, dust saturated air that caught in his throat and plagued him with an immediate, but short lived, coughing attack.After regaining his breath and clearing his throat a few times, he ran his hand through his blond hair and with a slight hesitation, began.

Starting from the top of each column of boxes, the man worked his way down, sorting, cleaning, repackaging, and of course throwing away item after item.As time slowly slipped on by, it became a process that repeated in a machine-like cycle: Spray-spray, dry, sort; Spray-spray, dry, sort; Spray-spray, dry, sort. With this rhythm, everything in the room sang: resurfaced clocks clicked, boots clunked, and even the man's breathing kept the beat. 

Opening a dust coated wooden case, the man extracted a long sword. Sweeping the weapon through the air a few times brought back a rush of memories. He remembered all too accurately the surge of energy after a fight, the pain that came with an injury, and the atrocious mistakes that could lead to death. Holding the sword in his hand, he also remembered the eyes… watching, peering into his soul….. they were hard and cold, so full of hate….

An unexpected noise provoked the man to suddenly jerk around, facing the attic door. Positioning himself in a battle ready stance, he held the weapon with confidence and a touch of familiarity. He had felt eyes on his back before, and had turned just in time to spot two tiny, bright blue eyes situated in a plump little face that was topped with blond hair. 

The boy gasped at the sight of the sword and the swirl of anger in the eyes of its holder, shutting the door promptly behind him. Dad always was saying strange things about Uncle Cloud, but he hadn't really believed any of them until today.

"Come on out," Cloud called, his voice directed at the door, and then, on second thought added, "It's alright. I put the sword down."

With a slight hesitation, the attic door creaked open slowly to reveal a wide-eyed boy, no more than four years of age, who stepped cautiously forward into the room.

"What's up, kid?" Cloud asked with a tinge of annoyance. After all, the attic was only half finished, and if he was going to be done by dinner, Cloud would have to avoid all unnecessary interruptions.

The young boy's lip quivered as if he was going to speak, but he only proceeded to advert his eyes from Cloud's, stare at the floor and mumble a few incoherent words while shuffling his feet nervously.

"Did you just say that Cid's been transformed into a flying baboon with a green tongue?!?" Cloud proclaimed, pretending to be serious as if something that ridiculous happened all the time. 

Skylar looked up and grinned. "Noooo, my daddy s'not a fyin' baboon wit a gween 'ung!"

Cloud nodded in agreement, "I didn't think so."

"Aun' Tee-fa told mommy that you was to pway wit me today, Uncle C-oud," Skylar explained.

There it was. Cloud's worst anticipated possibility coming true with the meaning behind that one statement: Tifa had signed him up to baby-sit Skylar. It wasn't that the kid was especially bad. Actually, Skylar was blessed with many of Shera's good qualities, but he still had a strong dose of Cid incorporated into him. Besides not having the time, Cloud knew that this was just an attempt on Tifa's part to get him to realize, as she puts it, "what a treasure children are."

"Well, Sky, I have to do some cleaning so if you want, you can go downstairs and watch some television," Cloud suggested as he picked up the cleaning fluid and rag.

"I'll 'elp," Skylar told Cloud with a smile as he reached down and picked up a broom, holding it awkwardly because of it's big size compared with his height.

Cloud looked at the little boy skeptically, but before he could protest, Skylar turned around, swinging the broom handle, which knocked into a tower of boxes. Like an avalanche, the cardboard boxes came crashing down on top of the little boy who was quickly swallowed in the debris. 

"Sky!" Cloud yelled as he came pawing through the boxes until he uncovered the breathless boy. 

Skylar, eye's wide and wet, had a small cut on his forehead, and although he wasn't crying, his lips quivered uncontrollably. Cloud scooped the small body up and placed him back on his feet.

"You okay, Sky?" Cloud asked with a mix of worry and disappointment. All his hard work and now not only did he have another mess to clean up, but he also had to deal with a bleeding kid.

Skylar wiped his nose on his sleeve and shook his head, "Yeah, but my head has an owwie."

Cloud nodded. "We'll go fix you up and then I'll clean up this mess…"

"But I wanted ta 'elp," Sky whispered sadly. "I'm saw-wee, Uncle C-oud."

Skylar, in a desperate attempt to fix his blunder, picked up an old paper that laid next to his foot and handed it to Cloud.

Cloud smiled, "You got determination, kid."

With that, Cloud lifted Sky up, carrying the boy and the old paper down the stairs to the kitchen. Placing Skylar in a chair at the kitchen table, Cloud dropped the paper casually onto the counter.

"I'll go get a band aid," Cloud said after ruffling Sky's blond hair playfully before leaving the room.

Skylar sniffled and then turned his curious round, blue eyes toward the counter. Slipping out of the chair, he reached up and swiped the paper from the place Cloud had nonchalantly left it. Skylar unfolded the yellow stained paper to uncover an old photograph.

"What are you up to, you little delinquent?" Cloud raised his eyebrows in suspicion. "Sit back down and let me bandage you up before you bleed all over Aunt Tifa's kitchen."

Skylar, picture in hand, immediately obeyed and flinched only once while Cloud went through the procedure of cleaning and wrapping up his small cut.

"Now that you look like your part mummy," Cloud teased.

Skylar merely grinned. If what Uncle Cloud said was true, maybe he would be able to scare his little sister, Lark, who was spending the day with Mommy at the park, later tonight.

"Uncle C-oud? Who's in this pic-tour?" Skylar asked as he produced the old photograph, handing it to Cloud.

"Oh man, where'd you find this, kid?" Cloud questioned with pure astonishment in his voice. "This is me and your Aunt Tifa when we were kids."

"Before you was mar-weed?" Skylar inquisitively asked.

"Yup," Cloud responded with a smile. "This was taken a long time ago, when Aunt Tifa and myself went to camp together."

Skylar nodded, "An' who's the pink gwirl in the back-gwound?"

Cloud frowned and did a double take. Who WAS the pink girl, hidden in the background, seated beside a black haired boy? On closer inspection, Cloud realized that this was not a picture from his childhood summer camp. Instead, it was from the "problem development program" he and Tifa had been sent to for a week one summer long ago. The entire event had been completely erased from his mind and the shocking picture brought back a rush of flashes and bits of memories. Forcing himself to think back, Cloud found that he knew not only who was in the photograph with Tifa and himself, but held the knowledge of the events of that week which had changed his relationship with Tifa forever.

And then Cloud remembered it all as clear as a cloudless star jeweled sky..……

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	2. The Disturbed

Chapter 2: The Disturbed 

** **

"Have you got everything? Extra clothes? Snacks for the bus ride?" asked a worried voice, breaking into my train of thought.

"Uh huh," I answered glumly looking up at my mom. She was always hovering over me, afraid that some terrible fate was waiting just for me behind every corner. I wasn't a little kid anymore. I could take care of myself.

"Alright then," Mom smiled nervously. "Have fun, and maybe you'll even make some new friends."

I shrugged without enthusiasm. A camp for "troubled" kids, as they called them, was not a place that I was looking to make friends. After all, it was probably going to consist mainly of bullies and wimps whose parents shipped them off to this reform program because they couldn't deal with them.

The only reason I allowed my mom to sign me up was my neighbor, Tifa. Since her mom died, she's been really sad and her dad registered her for the program in order for her to be able to talk with kids that also lost their moms. I thought this was a stupid idea on her dad's part though. After all, if Tifa won't talk about it with people she knows, why would she talk about her problems with strangers? 

The school told my mom that I don't play with the other kids and won't talk to the teachers, which is a sign that I'm depressed and angry. I don't understand how they came to their conclusion about how I was feeling inside. Of course, I admitted to my mom that I played by myself, but it's not because I'm angry. They're just stupid, playing pretend games that make no sense. 

Mom asked me if I wanted to do the program, and after Tifa, the girl I've admired ever since I've met her, told me she was going, I just shrugged without protest. After all, I loved spending time with Tifa and this would be a perfect opportunity for us to become friends. Now I was sitting on our doorstep awaiting the arrival of the bus with my mom practically crying and stuffing last minute snacks into my backpack.

The screech of wheels and hum of a motor filled my ears as a massive swirl of yellow zoomed down the street and slid to a halt at the end of my street.

"There's your ride!" Mom announced and then reached over, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. "Be careful, Cloud."

I nodded, looking sincerely into my mom's tear filled eyes, before turning and dragging my feet all the way to the bus door. I sighed, feeling a tinge of regret for allowing myself to be thrown into a week of uncertainty, but gulped down my fears and climbed the bus stairs.

"No eating on the bus, and no standing while we're moving. Grab a seat and sit your little tush down until we get to the cabins," huffed the pimple-faced driver in a raspy voice.

I stared at the driver in pure bewilderment. Her eyes were small and beady, her nose crocked, and her hair seemed to have a mind of it's own. Was this a woman or one of the hideous monsters that mom always claimed roamed outside our town in the fields and forests? Taking no chances, I quickly hurried along past the "beast" and started down the never-ending rows of silent and motionless kids.

Farther and farther down the bus I went, looking at face after face of unhappiness. Obviously no one wanted to be here, including myself. Tifa's dad had driven her to the camp earlier on that day so nothing but strangers surrounded me in every direction. I prayed for an empty seat, and luckily my wish was granted as I approach the third to the last seat with no occupant in it. 

I dropped down in the seat as we started to move. It was as if someone had turned on a switch because the moment we began to depart, the entire bus erupted in a mixture of talking, shouting, arguing, and laughter.

The bus stopped a few more times, but I curled up on the seat, leaning my head against the cold glass window pane and drifted off to sleep, taking no more notice of what was happening around me.

"Hey, kid, wake up."

The voice cut into my mind, chasing away all my dreams. I reluctantly opened my eyes to find a red haired boy with an ample supply of freckles littering his face poking me with his finger, and not being the least bit subtle about it.

"Stop," I said, annoyed at having been bothered. I didn't feel like talking right now and I didn't feel like listening to someone else either. After all, the bus hadn't stopped, and I could think of no logical reason why the boy had woken me up. He didn't even know who I was.

"Why? You don't like bein' poked?" Sneered the boy before jabbing me once again in the side. "This is my seat, new kid, an' you've been snorin' the whole trip."

I looked at the kid without interest and then turned my gaze toward the passing scenery out the window. Some people were just not worth my energy, and this red-haired freak was not an exception to the rule.

"I'm talkin' to you, can't ya hear?" the boy smacked me on the back of my head. "You stupid or somethin'? Huh?"

I turned, seeing only red, and stared hard, full of hatred at the boy next to me. I felt myself losing control, swallowed up by my rage. I won't take stuff like that from anyone anymore….

Suddenly, I was being pulled up by the back of my shirt and slammed down on the seat behind the one I just occupied. My mind cleared and I realized that the boy I was now sitting next to had black hair and was grinning at me wildly.

"Zack, why you getting' in my business?" the obnoxious red-haired boy glared over the top of the seat at me and the black-haired boy. 

Holding up a clenched first, Zack grinned mischievously. "You wanna make somethin' of it, Seth? You mess with this new kid, you mess with me, that clear?"

"Pshhh, you're so full of yourself," Seth mumbled before turning around and disappearing behind the seat in front of me. 

A moment later, my bag came flying back, headed straight for me. The kid next to me reached over, caught my backpack and roughly handed it to me as if it were nothing he hadn't expected to happen.

"What's your name, kid?" Zack asked nonchalantly as he ran a hand through his black hair, styled much like mine in long spikes shooting out in every direction.

"Cloud Strife," I answered shortly. I was never one for conversation.

"Well, Cloud, I'm Zack. Stick with me, kid, and I'm make sure you get the most out of your week at 'sunshine' cabin," Zack told me with a slight sparkle in his eyes. 

We didn't talk for the rest of the ride, which made me like Zack. After all, he seemed pretty decent, and all I wanted was to get to the cabin and find Tifa. With Zack sitting next to me, I had a feeling that I would have no trouble with any of the kids and maybe this week wouldn't be as bad as I thought….

That was until I found out about the two separate camps, one for girls and one for boys……..

# 

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	3. Fences Apart

Chapter 3: Fences Apart

** **

****"Someone should just shoot that guy."

"No prob, Zephyr," Zack winked at me, "Cloud's dad is a professional killer. I'm sure he could take care of old Sniper for you, for a small fee that is…."

Zephyr looked at me skeptically and I stared right back, not with hate, but rather a lack of interest. We had just returned from an assembly, headed by Dr. R. Sniper, who thoroughly explained all the rules and crushed my hopes of meeting up with Tifa with the phrase, as he put it, "separate girl and boy camps."

Now, back at Cabin 13, I laid down on the rock hard top bunk assigned to me, completely lost. I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. I half listened as Zack lied about who I was, and then he convinced a group of boys to take part in a card game that was clearly fixed to Zack's advantage. I stayed in bed for hours, staring at the cobweb covered wooden planks, which lined the ceiling. People came and went from the cabin as dusk arrived, but after a while, I didn't even notice when the door slammed. Everything faded into a surreal dream like state, although not once did I close my eyes.

"He's not right in the head, Zack. I don't want him around," a voice whispered from some where below me.

"Yeah, when he looks at you, it's like he's seeing nothing," agreed a shaky voice that I recognized as Seth's.

Zack laughed, "Alright girls, so you don't like him. He's creepy, right? Well, he's also smart, and that's more than I can say for any of you loud mouths."

After those little bits and pieces of the conversation reached my ears, a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me down off the top bunk, dropping me to the floor. It was Zack. He offered me a hand, which I shrugged away, pulling myself up onto my feet unassisted. A circle of dirty faces surrounded me and Zack, a devilish grin plastered on his face, was at the center.

"Cloud, are you willing to go on a hike?" Zack asked with a hint of pleasure in his voice.

Obviously, a hike was not all Zack had in mind. I hesitated for only a moment and then proceeded to bend down, digging through my backpack until I found my pocketknife. It had a blade as big as my middle finger and three times as thick. I kept it sharp, but made sure my mom never found it. After all, a mysterious man wearing a black cape just gave it to me one day as I walked home from school. It was truly a bizarre event that I never quite felt like explaining to my mom. Plus, I knew she wouldn't let me keep the knife if she found out I had it. She was always treating me as if I was still a little kid.

With my knife in hand, I turned back to the circle that had suddenly gotten a bit wider as many of the boys backed away from me, eying the knife with caution. Zack stayed where he was and nodded in approval.

"Ready?" he asked as if all we were going to do was go for a hike.

I nodded, seeing no need for words. After pocketing the knife, I followed Zack out the cabin door into the darkness that had just settled over the camp as the sun passed over the horizon. 

"Stick close to me, and if you get lost, don't mention my name when they find you," Zack told me in a hushed voice. 

Then he turned and slyly slipped from shadow to shadow, avoiding all the lamps' silver spotlights that plagued the campgrounds. Out of breath, I tried to be as smooth as Zack, streaking from one hiding place to the next, but Zack had something I didn't: familiarity. Obviously, Zack had done this exact thing numerous times before. But, the only thing running through my mind was why bring me? I didn't know the grounds, and he didn't even really know me so why risk getting caught by bringing me on this escapade?

Then I was hit hard, and my head swirled into darkness as I fell..….

"Cloud? Can you hear me?"

I blinked my eyes open and squinted as they were met with an immense cloak of light, streaming from all around me. Pushing myself up into the sitting position, I realized I was on a dusty old bed in a cabin. There were no counselors or even grown ups in sight. Instead, Zack paced the room with a rusty old sword in hand, swinging it playfully at an invisible foe. 

"Cloud? How's your head?" asked the same strange voice that I had heard just a few seconds before.

Twisting my head to the right, I found that Zack was not the only person in the room. A girl sat at a chair situated next to the bed with a basin of water in her lap and a washcloth in her small hand. She had light brown hair that shined red when the light hit it at a certain angle. It was delicately styled in two shoulder-length braids, tied at the end with pink ribbons. Her dress was also a pale pink, splattered with tiny white flowers. I looked into her round eyes, but remained quiet. 

"Zack, he's up," she announced as she turned from me to face the black haired boy, still playing with the old weapon. "But are you sure his name's 'Cloud'? He looks at me as if I'm crazy when I call him that…"

Zack laughed, throwing down the sword and sitting himself down on a chair to my left. "Cloud just don't talk much, that's all."

I went to run a hand through my hair, but found that my forehead had a huge bandage taped to it. When I touched the bandage, an immediate and blinding pain surged through my body and I convulsed as my head began to throb. 

"Careful, kid!" Zack reached out and steadied my shaking body. "You got one busted head, so take it easy." 

It took all my energy just to nod in agreement.

"By the way, this is Aeris," Zack smiled as he gestured to the girl in pink. "She thought you were some punk, tattletale following me so she knocked you on the head with a stick."

"Oh," I responded with out emotion. Well, now I knew why my head hurt.

Aeris lowered her head in shame, "I'm so sorry, Cloud. I didn't know you were Zack's friend."

I shrugged. What's done is done, after all. Wishes and apologies can't change the past. I was too tired to hear much more so I fell back down on the lone bed, shut my eyes, and let the sounds fade away as I drifted off to sleep.

Taking in a deep breath, I shook the tiredness from my body and slid off the bed. Aeris and Zack were sitting on the cabin's wooden floor, laughing and playing a card game that made absolutely no sense at all. I lurched over to them and dropped with a loud thud to the ground.

"Hey, kid, feelin' better?" Zack asked cheerfully as he chucked three cards in my direction.

"Where are we?" I inquired, completely ignoring Zack's last question. After all, I was up. Of course I'm feeling better.

"This is an abandoned camp cabin." Aeris told me bluntly. "Zack always breaks me out of the girl camp and we hang out here for the week. The counselors don't care, they're young and lazy, but if Sniper ever found out, we'd get the box."

I looked at Zack with a mix of confusion and interest on my face.

"The 'box' means solitary confinement." Zack explained. "This camp used to be mixed, girls and boys, but when Dr. Sniper showed up, he put a stop to all the games and all the fun. He turned the camp into a therapy session."

Aeris nodded. "We used to play, but now all we're allowed to do is talk and cry over our problems. When they put up the dividing fence, separating Zack and me, we found this old cabin and started sneaking off every year to be with each other."

"Yup," Zack winked at me, "After all, this is the only time I get to see my girl."

I guess the befuddlement showed on my face because Aeris quickly corrected Zack by explaining that he meant "girlfriend". Well, now I had some answers, but the question that plagued my mind still remained unknown. Why I'm I here?

I sighed. Since no one was going to bring up the subject, I guess I would have to. "Why am I here?"

Zack turned to me in amazement, "That's the first sentence you've said since we met!"

Aeris shook her head, "Zack, you talk so much, it's a wonder he ever got a word in."

After raising an eyebrow to Aeris, Zack responded, "For a couple of reasons. First, you're not a tattletale. Second, you're not a useless idiot. And third, you don't talk so you wouldn't last a minute in Sniper's therapy, which means you'd be spending a lot of time getting acquainted with the box."

"It's so sad," Aeris added glumly, "Just the this afternoon, they put a girl named Tifa in the box for not wanting to talk about her mother's death."

My heart leaped out of my chest and detached from my body. Tifa was in the box? Red blurred my vision as one thought raced through my mind: Tifa was being tortured. Not thinking, I sprung up, checked to see if I still had my knife, and walked unsteadily towards the door. I felt Zack's cold hand grab my arm, but quickly shook it away. 

"Cloud!" Zack yelled, now standing between myself and the door. "What do you think your doing?"

"I gotta save Tifa," I told him firmly and as I readied myself to fight my way out, Aeris gentle tapped me on the shoulder.

"We'll help you, Cloud. Come sit down and we'll think of a plan." Aeris whispered calmly in my ear.

"It's all you from here," Zack notified me as he patted my shoulder before disappearing into the darkness.

"Good luck!" Aeris gave me a quick, but tight hug and then followed Zack into the nothingness that surrounded us.

It was all up to me…..

I crept out from behind the wooden recreation building and headed swiftly towards the box, a lone structure no bigger than a bathroom set apart in the middle of an over grown field. The plan was simple. Zack had lifted the keys to the box from Dr. Sniper, while Aeris explained to the boys that we were in the need of a diversion, which they gladly supplied with flying food and overturned tables. Now it was my turn to take action.

I ran swiftly across the field, as quietly as I could, and reached the box breathlessly. Pressing my ear to the door, no sound could be heard from inside. I knocked once, saying that it was Cloud Strife, but still all was silent except for the few yelps and yells drifting through the air from the dining hall. I sighed, fingering the key, hoping against all hope she was all right.

Twisting the key, a loud "click" sounded in the stillness. Not hesitating for a second, I turned the knob and pushed the door open with a slight jerk of my hand. A small lamp radiating yellow rays of light was set in the center of the tiny, windowless room, which did not contain a stick of furniture. It was empty except for the girl who laid curled up in a tight ball, shaking from the cold, in the corner of the room.

"Tifa?" I called to the girl, but no response came.

"It's Cloud," I tried again, walking slowly towards her. "We're going to get out of here."

Tifa slowly raised her tear filled brown eyes and brushed her brown hair from her face. She sniffled as she stared at me motionlessly and without a word parting from her pouting lips.

"Cloud?" she questioned shakily as if she had just realized I was there.

I nodded as Tifa pulled herself from the floor and stood facing me. We both just stood there for what seemed like hours until, with one final sigh, Tifa fell into my arms and began to sob. I pulled her to me, hugging her tighter than I had ever hugged anyone before. 

"Why did you come to save me?" Tifa asked when her voice returned to her.

"I guess 'cause I think of you as my girl," I answered simply, gazing into her round eyes.

"Good," Tifa smiled, kissing me gently on the forehead. 

With that, I took her hand and led her swiftly to Aeris and Zack's cabin where the four of us hung out incognito until it was time to go home. During our time together, I used my knife to carve all four of our names on the cabin, but Tifa and I never went back and we slowly forgot everything about the week. Although, when it was all over, Tifa still smiled at me every time our eyes met and still graces me with that loving smile of hers to this day. 

The photograph, taken on the last day of camp so we would never forget about our time together, was somehow lost and the memory buried under layer upon layer of the tragedies in the years that followed. Although now, thinking back, everything seems so clear……

# 


	4. Time Resumes

Chapter 4: Time Resumes

Cloud blinked away the scenes that played before his eyes in reoccurring flashes and whispered voices. He shuddered as an eerie sensation slithered down his spine and then he truly opened his eyes for what seemed to be the first time in hours. Reawakening to his surroundings, Cloud realized that he was still in his kitchen, but something was different….

_What the…? _Cloud scratched his head in bewilderment as his mind flowed over ever aspect of the room, trying to zero in on what exactly was bothering him. His eyes landed on the incandescent red numbers, seething out toward him like daggers tearing at his heart. Cloud staggered to his feet in shock. His body shook uncontrollably as reality began to sink in.

_No… _Cloud frowned and raised his eyebrow in disbelief. _This can't be._

What had seemed to be minutes had actually been hours. The kitchen clock taunted Cloud with this fact and also revealed new tribulations. Not only had he lost time, Skylar, who had been right next to him, was nowhere to be seen.

"Shit," Cloud mumbled under his breath as he spun helplessly around the room without a trace of the boy. __

_ _

_This can't be happening_. Cloud thought to himself as he exited the kitchen and proceeded to the living room while checking ever corner for Skylar. _I couldn't have zoned out for that long……_

_ _

Cloud heard a low voice coming from the next room. Without hesitation, he slammed the door opened. Striding at full speed into the room, Cloud suddenly froze.

"Cloud, what's the matter?" Tifa asked, startled by his abrupt entrance.

Cloud's mouth hung open in astonishment, unable to comprehend what exactly was going on. He stared blankly at the four pairs of eyes that looked to him for an answer he couldn't grasp.

He moved his lips, but no sound escaped them as if he were a mute searching for a voice that he didn't have. In the moment that followed, Skylar appeared from behind the couch.

"Uncle C-oud!!" Skylar yelped, unable to control his excitement. With that, the little boy swiftly rushed over to Cloud and began to playfully tug on his arm. "Did 'ou s-eeep good?"

Cloud looked down and smiled at Sky. _You have no idea, kid, no idea…_

_ _

"That's right. I hear you were sleeping on the damn job." Cid interrupted. "What idiot would leave a kid to fend for himself? You're one lucky son of a…."

"Cid! Your not cursing in front of your kids, are you?" Tifa rebuked him slyly and winked at Shera. "Besides, Sky's fine and while he watched television, Cloud got to sleep. After all, Cloud's been working so hard lately…."

"Yup, Daddy. I had fun here wit Uncle C-oud," Skylar added.

Barret remained silent with his eyes still fixed on his motionless friend as Tifa and Shera continued their conversation with Cid adding his unique comments in whenever he saw an opening. Finally, Barret noticed a discolored piece of paper held in Cloud's hand.

"What's that?" Barret asked hastily and loud enough to attract the other's attention.

Cloud shrugged, "Just a picture of Tifa and me when we were kids…"

"Yeah, an' Aun' Air-isss is in it toooo!" Skylar smiled. "Right, Uncle C-oud? That's what 'ou were dreamin' 'bout."

"Yeah," Cloud sighed as he handed the picture to Tifa. 

_……It was one heck of a dream………_

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_Author's Note__:_

_ _

_Well, this is my first Final Fantasy VII fic so it's a little sketchy. The idea that Cloud would forget of his meeting with Aeris and Zack seems a bit farfetched, but with all the tragedies I figured "what the heck" and wrote the story anyway. I just loved writing about Cid and Shera's son, Skylar, and of course Cloud who was my favorite FFVII character. _

_I'm planning another FFVII fanfic, but much longer so this story is more like a warm up as to what is to come…. Not exactly a prequel but somewhat linked to the next story. Anywayz, it was all in good fun…. Although I think the last chapter is a bit lagging the rest is cute._

_Oh and about the whole "box" thing…. I was watching The Great Escape at the time and the solitary confinement idea just stuck. After all, I always hated summer camp… heheh._

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_~Lavantis_

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